


it's a long way forward

by solacefruit



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Gen, OC Cats - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 02:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17256338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solacefruit/pseuds/solacefruit
Summary: “Let me tell you something, Frogpaw,” said Nightclaw when he sat in the sun beside her. “Bravery worth havingisn’teasy."





	it's a long way forward

**Author's Note:**

> _and it's a long way forward, so trust in me_   
>  _I'll give them shelter, like you've done for me..._

The primroses were over. The last sprays of tiny yellow flowers were vanishing as the warmer weather came and in their place clumps of gorse and thyme now crowded the heaths of Windclan territory. In the shelter of one such fragrant cluster, Frogpaw wrestled with Sandpaw and Sedgepaw. 

Nightclaw, their guardian for the afternoon, watched their frantic tussling indulgently with one dark orange eye. She was stretched in the sun some way off from their thicket, near enough to supervise but far enough away not to be involved. She sat up sharply when Sedgepaw squealed, however. 

“What’s going on?” she growled. 

“Sandpaw bit my ear too hard on purpose,” wailed Sedgepaw. 

“You’re just soft,” said Sandpaw. “You’ll never be a warrior if you whinge over something like _that._ ” She looked unrepentant as Sedgepaw bristled at her. “Well, it’s true! Heatherfang’s my mentor and he’s _covered_ in scars and doesn’t care at all. When he was our age, I bet _he_ didn’t flinch like you do, Sedgepaw. I’ll try again and this time don’t squeak like a new kitten!”

She pounced at Sedgepaw once again but Nightclaw bowled her aside into the gorse. 

“That’s enough. Since you’ve got so much energy, you can put it to good use. Sandpaw, I want you hunting over there. Sedgepaw, go that way. See if you can catch something at this time of day.” Sandpaw seemed about to say something when Nightclaw added, “Don’t argue with me. Go on. I’ll be here.” 

Both apprentices slunk away in different directions. Nightclaw, looking satisfied, settled down in a patch of sunlight again.

Frogpaw was unsure what to do. The other two were a solid moon older than him and it showed: they were bigger, stronger, and much less awestruck by the senior warriors. He had been giddy with excitement when Nightclaw had announced she would spend the afternoon on the moor with them, but except to say hello and ask one or two small questions on the journey, he hadn’t managed to speak to her. Sandpaw and Sedgepaw were lucky: Nightclaw was in fact their aunt and although she clearly didn’t favour them in the slightest for it, they had no trouble talking in front of her.

“They both need to learn something from this,” said Nightclaw, her eyes closed. Frogpaw jumped. 

“What?”

“Is that what you were thinking about? Why did I send them both away?”

“Uh.” Frogpaw gathered himself. “Yeah. Why did you?”

“Sandpaw is big and confident. She’ll bite Sedgepaw as hard as she wants for as long as they let her. Sedgepaw is going to have to learn to push back one day, for their own sake. Not because it’s _their_ fault that Sandpaw’s the way she is, but because it has to be done. I won’t always be there to step in.”

Frogpaw considered this statement and when it still didn’t make sense to him, he cautiously asked, “So Sedgepaw should bite Sandpaw on the ear? Won’t that… make her angry?” He didn’t like the thought of Sandpaw being angry and couldn’t imagine Sedgepaw would like to be in the situation facing that either.

“Probably. She won’t like it,” agreed Nightclaw. She didn’t sound particularly worried. “But she’ll think twice before she bites again. Every time Sedgepaw stands up to her, she’ll be a little less sure of herself the next time. She’s a little bully right now. Sandpaw needs to learn some manners—and she will as she gets older—but in the meantime Sedgepaw needs to learn that some things are worth biting someone back for.” 

In the nursery, which was still a very recent memory for Frogpaw, he had heard kittens like himself told over and over not to continue mean fights—they were supposed to tell the nearest queen, or make up, or ignore whoever was starting it. He had never been told to give the other kitten a good kick or a smack on the nose. 

Asking a senior warrior if she was sure about something was well beyond what Frogpaw felt able to do, so instead he said, “You’re the greatest fighter in Windclan, aren’t you?”  
“I’m one of the heaviest cats in our clan,” said Nightclaw modestly but her vivid eyes were pleased slits. 

“I heard someone say you’ve never run from a battle, ever.”

“Not since I became a warrior.”

“You’re very brave,” said Frogpaw, impressed and intimidated all at once, and then added, “I’m not sure that Sedgepaw is, though.” _Or me_ , he thought. “I don’t think it’s easy for them to just… stand up to Sandpaw.”

Nightclaw sat up and shook dust from her coat. With a tilt of her head, she gestured for Frogpaw, who had nestled himself into a patch of thyme a respectful distance away, to come closer. 

“Let me tell you something, Frogpaw,” said Nightclaw when he sat in the sun beside her. “Bravery worth having isn’t easy. Sandpaw—she has nothing much to be afraid of, which is why she seems brave. It comes easily to her, because she hasn’t had anything to challenge her yet. Would you be scared of fighting a mouse?”

Frogpaw flattened his ears. He wondered if it was a trick question. “Maybe if it’s a really, really _big_ mouse?” 

Nightclaw shut her eyes in amusement. “Just a usual mouse.”

“No, then,” said Frogpaw. 

“Right. You wouldn’t even think that a mouse could be something you needed to be brave _at_ , would you?”

“Not really. Not until you said it. Rats are a bit scary, though,” admitted Frogpaw. 

“To Sandpaw, most things are just mice. Including Sedgepaw. No real bravery needed there, you see?” Frogpaw nodded and she continued, “But Sedgepaw has to grow the other kind of bravery—the _real_ kind. It’s the kind you find in yourself only when you have to. That bravery is what makes a warrior great.”

The two of them sat in silence for a while, soaking up the warm afternoon light. Frogpaw mulled over what Nightclaw had said, what it meant for him. Since he began his apprenticeship several days beforehand, he’d felt both elated to finally be on the path to becoming a warrior of Windclan and concerned that he wouldn’t be able to make it all the way to the end. When he looked at the adults around him, he could only see all the ways in which they were not like him: Heatherfang, tattered and fierce; Stonecloud, eloquent and certain; his own mentor, Harestripe, who was clever and liked by everyone; and, of course, Nightclaw, who was solid and strong and utterly fearless. 

“Did _you_ ever have to learn to be brave?” asked Frogpaw.

“I did.”

“Was it hard?”

“It was. Sometimes it still is.” 

Frogpaw stared at her. “But you’re never scared!” he burst out. “You said so yourself, you never run from a fight!”

“That’s what bravery is, Frogpaw,” said Nightclaw. “I’m scared every time I go to a battle. I’m scared about getting hurt. I’m scared about what will happen if we lose. But I go—and I stay there, and I fight until the very end—because I love my clan. I want to protect it. Even if it hurts. Even if I knew I’d lose. There is nothing more important to me than that, so that’s what I think of when I’m scared. I think of my reason to be brave.”

Eventually Frogpaw said, “I think you should tell Sedgepaw this sometime.”

“I will.”

“I understand what you mean now. About biting Sandpaw back.” When Nightclaw said nothing, Frogpaw took it as an invitation to explain. “You think Sedgepaw needs to realise that not having to be scared of Sandpaw is worth being brave for.”

“And what do _you_ think?”

Frogpaw kneaded his paws in the soft soil, surprised and delighted that his opinion mattered to Nightclaw at all. “I think you’re right.”

“Good. But you tell me if she gives you any grief, okay? She’s got a lot to learn too.”

Soon after, Sedgepaw returned with a lizard, which Nightclaw and Frogpaw both inspected and complimented. Sandpaw returned soon after with nothing and to Frogpaw she didn’t seem quite as haughty as she’d been when she left. 

“We’ll head back now,” said Nightclaw. “Grab your lizard and walk with me a moment, Sedgepaw.” 

Sandpaw watched them go, her ears flat, and then looked sharply at Frogpaw. He didn’t flinch. Instead, he imagined a small black kitten with dark orange eyes, who was young and nervous, just like he was. He imagined her gathering her strength—not in her shoulders, which were still slight, or her jaws, which were still weak—but in her mind. He thought of a reason to be brave and bumped his nose to Sandpaw’s. 

“Come on,” he said, “you can walk with me.”

**Author's Note:**

> _and I know, I'm not alone, you'll be watching over us_   
>  _until you're gone._
> 
>  
> 
> — Porter Robinson, "Shelter."
> 
> Work created as part of the [Ailuronymy Writing Challenge](http://ailuronymy.tumblr.com/post/159424810285/its-a-long-way-forward).


End file.
